'Surprised me': Sam Allardyce says he's actually been really shocked by one Tottenham player
Today at 04:15 AM
Dominic Solanke is really starting to find his feet at Tottenham now.
The striker has now scored three goals in his last two games, and it looks like he's starting to settle into his new surroundings at Tottenham.
Solanke has often been something of a slow burner in his career. He's 27 years old now, and he's coming off the back of his first major goalscoring season in the top-flight.
Brennan Johnson has recently claimed that Solanke is underrated.
Speaking on the No Tippy Tappy Football Podcast, Sam Allardyce has been discussing Solanke's rise to prominence, and he says that he's been surprised by Solanke and how late he has bloomed.
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Sam Allardyce surprised by Dominic Solanke improvement
Allardyce discussed the fact Solanke has only just become a quality goalscorer.
The striker is enjoying the best spell of his career, and it's taken a long time to get to this point.
"Dominic Solanke has surprised me with the fact that he’s, well, will he be 26? He's in his mid-20s and It’s taken him so long to become a goal scorer," Allardyce said.
"Because it was always the lack of goals that which ended up being at Bournemouth. And even in his time at Bournemouth, the first two seasons, it wasn’t a great goal-scoring record until last season."
How has Solanke improved?
Allardyce says that it has taken Solanke a long time to become this player, and he's not wrong.
Indeed, despite being so highly rated at such a young age, Solanke hasn't been scoring at this rate for most of his career.
Solanke was seen as a bit of a flop when he was at Liverpool, but he has seriously improved since.
| Dominic Solanke season by season | Goals |
| 2017/18 | 1 |
| 2018/19 | 0 |
| 2019/20 | 3 |
| 2020/21* | 15 |
| 2021/22* | 29 |
| 2022/23 | 6 |
| 2023/24 | 19 |
Solanke's improvement over the past 18 months or so has been staggering, and, based on the numbers, it's easy to see why Graeme Souness thought the Solanke signing was a risk.
However, Solanke's form in recent weeks has been solid, and if he can continue to improve and kick on, he will prove to be a great value for money signing.
Solanke has a big job on his hands as he acts as Spurs' Harry Kane replacement, but he seems to be rising to the task admirably.
